Won't Stop Groovin'

I love Taylor Swift's new song, Shake it Off, and I think I actually appreciated it even more after I saw the music video. I have moments like this every day, being a circular block that just won't fit through the square hole. I have always made up my own moves, but just recently have I really settled into a level of comfort with myself that has allowed me to dance on my own while ignoring the fear that I won't align with what the haters, fakers, and heartbreakers might think/say/do about it. This is inspiration to keep running uphill, to keep pursuing ideas that nobody understands just because they've never thought of it before, and to keep ignoring the negative energy that is all around us. It helps to increase the vibrations of a rough day, and reminds me that there are others out there fighting the good fight. OX

Let It Go

This is a big week for the Gustin family. My management consulting days are dwindling into single digits, we celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary as well as the fall equinox, and a new moon graced the sky. What a great time to reset intentions and set goals for the next few months!

One thing I've been struggling with this summer is the ability to cross something off my list and be done with it. I have gotten really good at procrastinating - I can fabricate a valid reason to justify putting off doing anything I am not 100% inspired by. Lately it's been hitting the send button, figuratively and literally. I'm not sure if it's my internal pursuit of "perfection" that is holding me back, but there are a lot of things I have been transferring from one list onto another each week. I work on it, but it's not quite ready, or I just don't feel like it's the exact message I want to send, or I get nervous about how others are going to perceive something - so I just put it on the back burner and expect that I will have an epiphany and find the right words. I know this is slowing me down, so I am making a concerted effort to dial back my expectations and be content with "good enough."

There are only so many times I can read a press release and find ways to improve it before the editing becomes a marginal use of my time. First impressions are critically important, but if it's just an email I should find a way to keep it simple and send a clear but concise introductory message. Letting an idea marinate for another 24 hours will not provide enough additional creative content to justify putting off the phone call another day.

Any time I waver about getting something accomplished enough that I could cross it off my list, I am going to give myself another 15 minutes to agonize over it and then let it go and move on to other things. We'll see how this goes...

How Sweet It Is

Back in May I made a commitment, along with Mom and Brian, to give up sugar for the summer. Anything with sugar in it, as well as anything the body processes as sugar - all carbohydrates, including grains, fruit, various high-glycemic vegetables like corn and beets and carrots, and alcohol. It was very challenging, but it had a huge positive impact on my fitness and my energy levels, and my waistline. A few weeks ago I started adding in foods that I have been avoiding, and there are several unexpected changes in my tastes that I have noticed.

First of all, eating anything that is remotely sweet feels extremely indulgent. I can't deny that I decided to start phasing sugars back in when I did because during this time of the year you can't walk into a produce department without being assaulted by the sweet smell of ripe peaches and cantaloupe. I have been gorging myself on grapes, berries, stone fruits and melons, and it has been amazing! Another thing that I never really craved before that I have become addicted to is nut butter. I will eat chunky peanut butter on just about anything now - toast, bananas, oatmeal, or sometimes just by the spoonful. I have also discovered a cocoa-almond butter that is smooth and creamy and just as satisfying.

I also have a much higher tolerance for plain and simple veggies. I don't need much(if any) dressing on my salads anymore, and don't need much seasoning to enjoy broccoli fresh out of the steamer or zucchini straight off the grill. Most of the snacks we made all summer were just chopped bell pepper or cucumbers or jicama, and I find myself craving those tastes and textures now.

As I have again tried foods I denied myself for a few months, there are several things I used to crave that don't do anything for me now. For example, breakfast burritos were a staple in my nuke-it-and-eat-on-the-way-to-work morning routine, and now the potatoes and tortilla just seem bland and unnecessary - I'd much prefer the eggs, sausage, cheese and green chile on its own, even though it's not a commute-friendly dish outside of its handy wrap. I get very full quickly when I eat carbs now, too. I have been trying to eat 1 carb, 1 protein, 1 fat and 1 fruit with breakfast - which is actually quite a lot of food. When I used to be ready for lunch by 11:30, now I don't even think about food until at least 1.

This whole exercise has promoted healthy changes in our habits - but is definitely has not been cheap. Good produce is expensive! We've been going through hearts of romaine lettuce like you would not believe, and every time I stop at a grocery store to get more lettuce I end up shopping for auxiliary vegetables and proteins. It's no wonder that people with fixed incomes are reliant on frozen dinners and processed meals - they're crazy cheap when you compare that to how much it would cost to purchase the whole ingredients to cook similar menus. We are blessed that we live in a community where CSA's are readily available, healthy lifestyles are supported by the local economy, and we can select fresh foods anytime we visit a store.

Reluctantly Crouched at the Starting Line

I have reluctantly been forced to acknowledge the waning of Summer. Dusk is settling earlier each day, and this morning when Bosco and I stepped out for our morning jog there was barely light in the sky and I wished I had long sleeves on. Of course, by the time we looped back around to the driveway the sun was up and the chill had vanished, but it's only a matter of weeks before I will need to find a way to motivate myself out of bed in total darkness.

Generally the first signs of fall thrill me, but this summer has been such an intense time of transition that I am not quite ready to let it go. It has been the beginning of a new stage in my life that I want to honor. I think I am also reticent because the end of my first quarter means that this business is going to start ramping-up for real, and the quiet-strategic-planning time I have thus far invested will need to morph into put-everything-on-the-line time networking and promoting my services.

Out of all of the exciting aspects of starting out on my own, I have been the most nervous at the prospect of accepting full responsibility for sales. I have never had a gift for talking people into things - I have always been more of a listener. The challenge from here on will be to leverage everything I gather listening to potential clients and build strong professional relationships. I need to remember that ultimately my goal is to provide services that support their goals, and I am not trying to "sell" them anything that does not add value to their organization.

Perhaps we will have an extended autumn season this year, and I can make myself take time to relish this beautiful place in which we live while I slowly ease into the pressure of business development.

You're Nodding, but are you Listening?

I've recently spent some time exploring a few dominant personal traits and inclinations, and how they can be perceived as strengths or weaknesses in my professional life. Because of this, I have been easily distracted by articles touting leadership qualities, and debating behaviors that make somebody an effective manager or leader. One characteristic that seems to be a common thread in most of my reading is that to inspire somebody to follow you and help you implement your vision, you must be a good listener.

This is absolutely logical, in that you can't reasonably provide a purpose and direction to an individual or a team unless you understand what is motivating them, as well as what challenges they are struggling with. However, one HBR article highlighted that empathy is what makes this leap from hearing what your team has to say to truly understanding their position and perspective.

Paul Bennett, Chief Creative Officer at IDEO, shared “for most of my twenties I assumed that the world was more interested in me than I was in it, so I spent most of my time talking, usually in a quite uninformed way, about whatever I thought, rushing to be clever, thinking about what I was going to say to someone rather than listening to what they were saying to me.” This struck a chord with me. Not because I could ever qualify myself as clever or even wanting to appear clever - but because I would like to focus on developing a better understanding of how I could be helpful to people around me. The empathy is key to this idea - you have to actually care about what the answer is in order for your questions to be effective. This applies to personal relationships just as much as professional interactions.

It's a solid networking principle that people love to talk about themselves, so asking questions that allow them to open up to you personally tends to engage people on a higher level than simply discussing a common interest. This requires an intention to remove your ego from the conversation and slow down and learn from other perspectives, instead of defensively debating based on your own point of view(which might not always be interesting to other people). My father is an excellent example of this concept - he is always the most interested person in the room, and he asks detailed questions for the sake of genuine curiosity. I don't know whether this is just in his INTJ-engineer nature, or if this is something he has cultivated over the years, but it is definitely a skill I would like to intentionally practice and augment this year.